welcome to newsday — reporting live from singapore — i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. day four of the olympics — and it's another early start — the women's triathlon is approaching its final stages. i'm sarah mulkerrins — live in tokyo — where i'll bring you the latest — as the weather threatens to disrupt olympic plans. first afghanistan, now iraq — president biden says the us combat mission will be over by the end of the year. as parts of australia continue to live under lockdown — the country's former pm tells us the lack of vaccines is to blame. it was a colossal failure in the problem is you can't

complain and wind the clock back to do things that should've been done last year. and — calls for calm in tunisia — after the country's president sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament. welcome to newsday where it's 7am in singapore, and 8 am in tokyo where the first medal of day four will be awarded soon. it'll be in the womens triathlon and it's the first of 22 medals to be won today — an increase caused by the rescheduling of the surfing competition because of here's how the overall medal tally looks at the start of day 4 — japan leads with 8 golds, one more than the us

and two ahead of china. i'm joined now by sports presenter sarah mulkerrins who's in tokyo. sarah, looks like a very rainy morning there in tokyo how has the weather affected events? yes, you will be used to seeing this in the last couple of days high above tokyo bay. it is our point but because of the approaching storm, we have had to go indoors. but we are close to go indoors. but we are close to the triathlon event which is ongoing now, delayed by 15 minutes to begin because the heavy rain and going down in births, bits and births in the athletes that are out on the road bike section it's an awful lot of the surface water on the road and it cost a few crashes

and spills he can see all of it coming up from the wheels battling at the moment and as you said earlier, it is a good thing for some other sports because the surfing finals were due to be on wednesday. but because of this impending tropical storm, that is raised up tropical storm, that is raised up the swells out in the ocean close to the beach and they love those big waves and so they are going to have the men's and women's final today with that. it men's and women's final today with that. ., ., a ~' men's and women's final today with that. ., ., «a ~ �*, with that. it looks like it's coin: with that. it looks like it's going to _ with that. it looks like it's going to be _ with that. it looks like it's going to be a _ with that. it looks like it's going to be a very - with that. it looks like it's| going to be a very exciting competition. persevering through that rain storm in the athletes, but day three was yesterday, what a day for the host country. what's been reaction from the hosts? were they surprised? i think it is been a brilliant start. we think about the to these olympics, there was a lot of negativity in the newspapers all had impending gloom and doom because the majority of

japanese locals did not want these games to go ahead. peeking since that now that they can see athletes smiling and winning with gold medals on the front of the pages, them on the front of the pages, them on the tvs and all around the country, perhaps there is a little bit swept up and caught up little bit swept up and caught up in the action and enjoying that and celebrating their star athletes and one interesting note is that organisers actually put forward this to the start, it's usually a bit later in the schedule. but they knew that it's very strong in this area. so, perhaps they thought may be of the host but they were picking up an awful lot of golds and medals, but that may well have their feeling and the sentiment towards the game here. fix, feeling and the sentiment towards the game here. a little bit of politicking _ towards the game here. a little bit of politicking coming - towards the game here. a little bit of politicking coming into i bit of politicking coming into play and still not transmitting the popularity but the prime minister there. onto day four now, simone biles and team usa looking for gold in the gymnastics?

what else should we be getting excited about? i think all eyes are going to be on simone, are they was make the american gym this is such a superstar. she does leaps so high into the air with all her tricks and skills that she pulls out. team usa, the first final that simone is going to be in. the team won. they were uncharacteristic in the performance. the only qualified second and they were unbeaten in 11 years. and so, everyone was a little bit shocked by that. simone biles was a little bit shocked. she didn't have the big smile on herface that she would have and they no doubt will be putting the pressure on themselves to really bring their a—game a little bit later in the team final. and for simone biles, she won four gold and a bronze in rio. she held up still has a chance to win six. this will be her first chance to win six. this will be herfirst time in chance to win six. this will be her first time in the event and

the all—around final in the fourth and the individual apparatus. so, ithink fourth and the individual apparatus. so, i think she'll be stealing most of the headlines here day four. lane headlines here day four. i've not to headlines here day four. i've got to ask. _ headlines here day four. i've got to ask. i _ headlines here day four. i've got to ask, i was _ headlines here day four. i've got to ask, i was quite taken by the i was quite taken by the decision by germany's gymnasts to wear full body suits at the women's qualification to stand up against sexualisation of their sport. is this becoming a theme at this year's games? i think it is a really interesting discussion and those german gymnasts have done this previously in europe a couple months ago, they made this stand for the first time. they basically said they do not feel comfortable in the usual leotards that will be used to seeing women performing in gymnastics. they wanted to have the full body suit. they said they felt more comfortable and they felt more comfortable and they felt more comfortable and they felt they could perform better in that. so we have seen it before and it's interesting that they brought it here to the olympics and the reaction that it's gotten. we have seen

in europe, a case of the note last week and a half with the beach handball team from norway, there are competing in the championships there. they usually have to wear briefs, they want to wear longer shorts and they are defined by the federation to breach the uniform that is set out by the federation and what is happening now since this since had outrage from many quarters, even the munition and pop star has been weighing in on it saying that she will offer to pay that fine. the federation that governs that sports as they would donate that fine to charities that help to young girls and women into sports and what we're seeing more and more of the moon last couple of years is athletes really feeling like they have a voice and that they want to take the social media does show that they have views and opinions that need to be heard. and this is the latest in a line of athletes feeling confident and comfortable about saying what they want and how they want to

perform. they want and how they want to erform. , they want and how they want to erform. p, , . they want and how they want to erform. , ., , perform. does lame people wherever — perform. does lame people wherever they _ perform. does lame people wherever they went - perform. does lame people wherever they went where. | perform. does lame people - wherever they went where. still to come just that —— just letting people. still to come a bit later in the programme: we'll have a report from our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield hayes looking in more detail at the surfing competition and the sport's history injapan president biden has said us troops will end their combat mission in iraq by the end of the year. america has about two thousand five hundred forces there, to help iraq fight the islamic state group. this comes as us forces are ending their mission in afghanistan too, and mr biden tries to wind down the wars that were launched after the 9/11 attacks. iraq's prime minister was at the white house on monday, as mr biden explained the role of us troops in the future. it's just to be available, to continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with isis as it arises. but we're not going to be by the end of the year

in a combat mission. our correspondent barbara plett usher is following the story at the white house. president biden didn't actually talk about a troop withdrawal. he talked about ending the combat mission. and so it looks as if this is really a redefining of what the americans are doing. they're defining it as a mission to assist and train iraqi troops to fight islamic state militants. and in actual fact, on the ground, that is what they are basically already doing — they don't conduct combat missions unless they themselves are attacked. so, it does seem to be more of a rebranding than a reducing. in fact, a former us ambassador to iraq called it a "game of appearances over substantive change". the news on iraq comesjust after the us confirmed they were pulling out of afghanistan too. it's there where high numbers of civilians, many of them children, have been killed or injured in the first half of this year, according to the united nations.

as violence escalates, more than 1,600 civilian deaths have been recorded, a rise of nearly 50 percent compared with this time last year. government forces have been fighting taliban insurgents, who now control vast areas of rural territory, following the withdrawal of most international troops. our correspondent secunder kermani sent this report. fighting has been flaring across afghanistan. as international troops pull out, afghan forces have been trying to hold back an intensifying taliban advance. these brothers lived in ghazni province. when fighting erupted close to their home, their family tried to flee. the taliban stopped us, theirfather told me. they accused my sons of being soldiers. i went to get their id cards to prove they weren't, but by the time i got back, they had already been shot. this year has seen record high

numbers of child casualties. this horrendous attack left more than 80 dead, mostly school girls. the un's warning violence could get even worse. unless there is a de—escalation in the conflict, we are very concerned that based on what we have seen in the past six months, we will see high levels and perhaps the highest on record number of civilian casualties. so far most of the taliban's advance has been in more rural areas but their focus is increasingly switching to the more densely populated cities. with peace talks largely stalled, that means even more innocent lives are likely to be lost. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. officials in north—eastern india say at least five police officers have been killed in a territorial dispute between the states of assam and mizoram. the officers who died

were from assam. more than fifty people were injured after clashes between police and civilians. tensions have been running high after a group of police officers from assam took over a hilly area of mizoram last month. at least 57 migrants drowned on monday after a boat capsized off the libyan coast near khums. that's according to the u.n.'s international organization for migration. hundreds of thousands have made the crossing in previous years, many fleeing conflict and poverty in africa and the middle east. the inuit rights advocate, mary simon, has become canada's first indigenous woman to hold the post of governor—general. at her swearing—in ceremony, she pledged to strive to build bridges across the diverse backgrounds and cultures in canada. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme, hanging ten in tokyo — we'll give you the lowdown

on the latest olympic sport. coming down the ladder now. that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30 year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in| sperm quantity, and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim proneriy. _ thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime as children bury their noses

in the final instalment of harry potter. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines — day four of the olympics, and it's another early start — the women's triathlon is approaching its final stages. first afghanistan, now iraq — president biden says the us combat mission will be over by the end of the year. there've beeen international calls for calm in tunisia after the country's president sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament. kais saied has been accused of staging a coup, though he insists that he acted in line with the nation's constitution. the political unrest followed sunday's violent protests over the govenrment�*s handling of the covid outbreak.

marina daras has the latest. a young democracy plunge into a constitutional crisis. after a day of protests on sunday against the mismanagement of the pandemic, president kais saied suspended parliamentary activities for 30 days before dismissing hichem mechichi, the head of government and interim interior minister. translation: first decision, freezing the functions - of the parliament. the constitution does not allow its dissolution, but it allows the freezing of its activities. second decision, the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of all deputies. third decision, the president of the republic will take charge of the executive power with the help of the government, which will be headed by a new leader appointed by the president of the republic. some tunisians support the decisions, but others strongly criticise them. heading this pushback

is the speaker of parliament, rached ghannouchi, leader of the islamist—inspired party ennahda, the main parliamentary party. rached ghannouchi denounced the coup d'etat against the revolution and against the constitution. it is a violation of the constitution. it is a serious threat to tunisia's democracy and all the gains that have been made over the last ten years. a political tug—of—war between the two men, dormant since the last elections in 2019, is now fully engaged. and on monday morning, ghannouchi's supporters were clashing with president saied's supporters in front of parliament. this political turmoil stems from he health crisis. tunisia is plagued by a steep rise in cases of covid—19, and with almost 18,000 deaths for 12 million inhabitants, the country has one of the worst mortality rates in the world. tunisians are exhausted by the power struggles and the political and economic situation of the country. but the deterioration of the social and health

situation shows the road ahead remains uncertain. marina daras, bbc news. to australia where anger is growing as millions of people are locked down across several states. many are unable to work or keep their businesses open. stay—at—home orders are now in place in south australia, victoria and parts of new south wales. frustration is running high over yet another lockdown 18 months into the pandemic, compounding the pressure on the australian government, as the uk and the us reopen. people have been protesting in sydney against lockdowns. hundreds of fines have been issued and two men have been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly striking a police horse. australia's low vaccination rate could mean continued covid restrcitions, just 38% of australians over the age of 16 have had one vaccination dose and only 16% have had two doses and are fully vaccinated.

former australian prime minister malcolm turnbull has criticised the current government's vaccine rollout as a "phenomenal failure" with not enough doses bought and distributed. mr turnbull spoke to us from sydney. well, the big mistakes were made last year when not enough vaccines were bought. the reality is that apart from astrazeneca, we do not have a plentiful supply of any vaccines. and the astrazeneca vaccine was recommended only for people over 60 and that recommendation has changed because the delta variant spread here in the city of sydney which is very strong

but nonetheless, there is a lot of vaccine hesitancy about the vaccine. the problem is we do not have the alternatives. the government last year, the federal government, national government tries not to buy another pfizer or moderna. so, they failed. looking at the biggest failure of public administration that i can recall. the mission was very clear. i have to ask there have been these anti lockdown but how do you keep numbers in check if you do not have the vaccinations you need? i agree with the lockdown. the people who are protesting, they are part of a fringe group of people who believe in conspiracy theories. you see around the world, particularly in the usa. and they are opposed to vaccines. anti—vaxers.

in australia, i should say, we have always had a very strong approach to vaccines. before covid—19, most vaccines were administered to kids. and we've had no jab, no play, no jab, no pay. if you have a child that's not vaccinated, you cannot take them to childcare, let alone get childcare benefits. we've always been very good on vaccines here. what are in your view is a realistic timeline of reopening australia's borders? well, probably not before the first quarter of next year. that is the march quarter of 2022 and the reason is, we cannot, we simply won't have enough of the vaccines until october, november, to get a large percentage of the population vaccinated. to get to the same level as the

uk or in the usa or singapore. of the usa or singapore. so, the very reason we are lockdown which is so frustrating when there's so many other parts of the world opening up is simply because our government failed to buy enough vaccines. it was a colossal failure and the problem is, you cannot wind the clock back and fix what should've been done last year. another big issue has been sexism in australian politics. aside from the pandemic there, former mp says that during her time in parliament, she was subjected to a culture of misogyny and sexism. this was during your time as prime minister. were you aware of the treatment and other mps faced? i was aware that the culture in parliament was disrespectful to women, was sexist.

i used to say that it reminded me of the corporate culture in australia in the 1970s or 80s. and actually changed the ministerial code, the code that applies to all ministers in this regard and i made it very clear that respect for women and four colleagues in public servants and so forth, it was critical and actually made it an offence for ministers to have sexual relations with their staff because i'm afraid to say most of them seemed to think that iwa completely ok. that was completely ok. a cabinet minister touched her inappropriately and parliament. do you know who she is referring to and have you spoken to this person? i do know who she is talking about, but i was not aware of the incident while i was prime minister. julia told me about it after i had ceased to be prime minister, but she has

chosen not to identify the minister and so, that is her prerogative. and finally — the surfing finals have been moved to today because of the weather injapan. rupert wigfield hayes has more on from tokyo. this is the pacific coast ofjapan, about an hour and a half drive east of tokyo. this place is called ichinomiya, and it's really popular with the local surfers. you can see today the waves are pretty lively. that's because we've got a typhoon living in. when you think of surfing coming probably think of the north shore of hawaii or the gold coast of australia or maybe bali, notjapan. but actually surfing is really, really popular here injapan. it's estimated around 2 millionjapanese regularly get on a surfboard. this group of young surfers left home in tokyo before 4am this morning in order to be in the water before six a:m. the waves here are best early in the morning, before it gets too windy.

this beach isjust two km from where the olympic surfing competition is being held. so how do they feel about not being able to go along and watch? translation: it does not feel right not to be able to go - and watch ourselves. other people may say it's not fair to have spectators at surfing when other sports don't have spectators. that over there behind me, that's where the olympic surfing competition is taking place right now. this was supposed to be a huge festival of surfing him this was supposed to be a huge festival of surfing. the first time it's ever been in the olympics. it is by the fact we are outside, there's lots of land, but there are still no spectators. this is as close as we can get. just on the beaches, the oldest surf shop in town. run by shingo nakamura. so close but shingo and his

staff are forced to watch the action on television. shingo's father was one of the first to develop surfing here, learning from american sailors based injapan. there's a lot of sadness and frustration here, but also hope that the world will see that japan is not just about sumo orjudo, but that it has a very cool surfing scene, too. that's all for now.

stay with bbc world news. hello. the forecast for the next few days is looking quite turbulent and at times very wet indeed, with some torrential, heavy, thundery downpours, albeit with some sunny spells in between. now, let's take a look at the recent satellite picture because you can see all of these areas of cloud just rotating around, circulating on top of the uk, and this pattern continues with low pressure firmly in charge. close to the centre of the low, particularly, we are going to see some really intense downpours and thunderstorms popping up during tuesday. so, some cloud and some showery rain from the word go across western and southern parts, a bit more sunshine further east. but through the day, the showers will pop up quite widely, and some of them

will be very heavy and thundery, especially across parts of north wales, the north midlands, northern england and scotland. and with very light winds, those showers will be very slow—moving, so in one or two places, we could see an awful lot of rain, giving rise to localised flash flooding. temperatures not doing too badly in the sunshine between the showers, as high as 23—24 degrees. some of those big showers and storms will rumble on through tuesday evening into the early hours of wednesday, and we start to see some more persistent rain developing across parts of scotland. so, low pressure still very much with us for the middle part of the week. in the centre of the low, an area of rainfall is going to become very slow—moving across scotland, so that could well cause some flooding issues. see, the rain will just continue here throughout the day. for northern ireland, england and wales, it's sunshine and showers again, some of the showers heavy and thundery. some really squally, gusty winds, but the winds generally will be a bit stronger on wednesday. so, at least that means the showers, where they do turn up, should move through a little more quickly. temperatures will be lower

on wednesday, though. quite cool for the time of year actually, 14—20 degrees. as we move out of wednesday into thursday, the rain across scotland will only slowly pivot and start to move southwards. so, before this rain finishes, some places across scotland could see 100 millimetres or more, hence the potential for flooding. some of that rain drifting southwards into northern ireland and northern england through the day. some sunshine further south, chance of one or two showers, but we could well see another area of wet and blustery weather pushing into the far south west later in the day. and temperature still a little disappointing, 17—21 degrees.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main new stories for you at the top of the hour as the news continue straight after hard talk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. whoever first said that politics and sport shouldn't mix, well, they were wasting their breath. they've always mixed. and why wouldn't they, given the huge part that sport plays in our culture? right now, england is consumed by an agonising debate about racism in football after three black players on the national team were targeted for vile abuse,